The Advantage of Tenure

Some of the most inspiring sales stories that I hear include the words "I've been buying from that guy for years."  This simple phrase has so many complex implications that can be used for motivation.  We know how difficult it is to overcome, last, thrive, and excel in the marketplace of sales...........and to hear of accounts where salesman has achieved this is impressive.  Sure, it happens all the time.  But even these countless cases are the rare exception to the cases where a salesman jumps around from company to company or gets chewed up and spit out of the intense sales world. 

The sales people that are able to overcome all of the challenges year in and year out have such an advantage over everyone else trying to sell into their market. Years of proven success and happy clients can be the silver bullet in their bag of weapons.  They have proven themselves time and time again, and will always be the safe choice.  In many cases, they now have a long list of friends that will always come to them first.

I admire these sales people with long tenure in their field.  Being one of these people is a long-term goal that we should all strive for.

Everythings Better with a Smile

Subconciously, we are always going steer in the direction of a person smiling rather than a person not smiling.  A smile has some sort of gravitational pull that pulls people in, and has them wanting to smile when they get there.  They want to know what you're smiling about, and if it's something that they may want to smile about as well.  If a person seems to always be smiling, then we actually want to be around that person as often as we can because something going on around them is worth smiling about...........and we want to be a part of it.  If you want to meet people, all you have to do is smile at them and the introduction becomes much warmer.  Things are always better when I'm around the smiling people in my life.

**  On our family (of 5) vacation a couple of weeks ago I tried to get Marriott to upgrade my family to a 2-bedroom suite.  I worked every angle, and it just wasn't happening due to being a holiday weekend.  This week, while traveling alone, they were very excited to inform me that they had upgraded me to a 2-bedroom suite.  Awesome.

Day-to-Day

Some days ideas, thoughts, energy, emotion...........just comes bolting out of you uncontrollably, and affects the room around you positive manner.  Other days, it's as if you no longer care enough to have a constructive conversation, and you bring everyone around you down.  The strange thing is that the passion for your objective can be the exact same on both days........it's actually just a difference in your physical or mental state from day to day.

Luckily, I don't have many of the negative days, but they do happen to us all.  I'm sure it has to do with lack of sleep, poor nutrition, or some other health related factor.  Today was actually a great day, but for some reason it made me think of time wasted during past days that weren't as great.

So, when will we be able to buy creativity in a bottle?  Will somebody please invent this jolt of productivity that we can grab at 7-11 whenever we run out?  I love these days, and need the formula to re-create them at will.

Out of Sight

Social media is making it easier to overcome one of the factual challenges of sales.  "Out of sight, out of mind" is real, and it's true in all aspects of our life.  In sales, this poses a huge challenge because we stay so busy trying to touch so many different people through so many different avenues.  It can be argued how much luck, timing, preparation, etc.... play a role in your everyday sales success.  But, nobody will argue the out of sight factor.

In "old school" sales, the only ways to stay in front of multiple clients all the time was through advertising, phone calls, and mail.  When I started in sales, email was already a common tool, which created an efficiency in staying in touch that was lightyears ahead of years before.  Now with social media, if you truly want to stay in touch..........you have no excuse not to.  It is so readily accessible, and everyday it gets easier.

Of course, social media does not help with client relationships, and will never replace the live phone calls and written letters.  These types of personal communication will always stay at the root of all sales.  But, it does help overcome the "out of sight, out of mind" factor that only advertising used to.  We should all learn how to utilize social media better, because all of our competitors already have.

Be Successful Sooner

Yesterday I completed a conference that I attend each year, which is always lead by one of my favorite speakers, Mike Hajek.  One of the many things he said that got my mind racing was "Be Successful Sooner."

We're always planning, preparing, strategizing, developing............for the future..........and we should never stop doing that.  But being successful in the future does not do much for our concerns today.  We should always have a plan, but we shouldn't be satisfied with "having a plan."  I'm guilty of this.  If I can answer "No, I didn't achieve that yet, but I have a plan," I somehow feel that I've justified not accomplishing my task yet.  I'm buying time.

We need to hold ourselves and others more accountable on today's success.  Why are we putting it off?  Don't plan to plan today, plan to succeed today.

**  I'm extremely loyal to American Airlines, but what is up with every single flight having some sort of maintenance delay these days?  Every flight, it's getting irritating.   

Bonehead Move

How is it that we face important decisions, crucial conversations, and game-changing meetings everyday..........yet we can still make the biggest bonehead moves regarding elementary tasks?  I'm talking about the tasks that are second nature, that should have no impact on your day...........they should just happen, naturally.  Yet, you can lose your mind for a split second, give an answer that you (by nature) know is incorrect, and then carry on your business without thinking about it.

My guess is that this doesn't happen often to any of us.  But, when it does, it will knock you down a couple of notches as you recall how you let that happen.

Yep, it happened to me today.  All I can say is sometimes we move too fast, with our focus on the big picture, and our minds on strategic growth, and goals of business development, and many other "important" responsibilites...........we let little things slide by without much attention.  Here's to more attention on the little things!!

**  Here's what happens when my 6-year old helps me pack, and I ask him to match some black dress socks for me.  I should check next time before leaving town............but, I guess it could have been worse.

The Gut Feeling Roller Coaster

I find that important opportunities, whether because of their $$ impact or their prestige......always come with a roller coaster of emotion. Especially in my case where I try to read into every act, every call, every email, every bit of communication pertaining to my chances of winning the business. What does this mean for me? What can I do now? Are they pleased? Are they disappointed? Are they closer to the competition? All of these questions rush through my mind with every conversation. Part of it is me being paranoid, part is me being a control freak.....but the biggest factor contributing to my anxiety is the fact that I want to find any hint within context that can initiate my next move that may give me a leg up.

Throughout this roller coaster, one thing remains my measuring stick......my gut feeling. It is always present, and always obvious. But, it changes every day, and sometimes every hour.....even regarding the same opportunity. I adjust my next actions based on this. I call in the troops or lay low depending. My aggressiveness, passiveness, and overall strategy are ever changing along with my gut. It's not always right. In fact, I can't even say that it's usually right. I just know it guides me, and I always follow, regardless of the direction it's leading me.

With this comes the low of the gut feeling roller coaster. This is the worst feeling, where every ounce of your gut says you're not going to get the business, though it's not yet been confirmed. This is the equivalent to a non-violent stomach flu, where it's not possible to get comfortable and you can't even think about eating or drinking. The only way the discomfort subsides is to receive the confirmation that you either won or lost. When the hope is to get that call, knowing that the news may be bad news, the impact of the gut feeling is put in perspective. Now I'll say this is all part of the fun and intrigue of sales. This stage is usually the predecessor to the celebration of the victory or the reflection on what went wrong.

**. A vacation is not the only way to recharge your battery. Sometimes just hanging out with the right people having the right conversations will do the trick.

For Granted's Sake

Here's one of my biggest weaknesses...........I take things for granted.  This is true for me in all aspects of life.  I tend to either:  Identify, accomplish, move on............or Identify, delegate, forget.  Both pose a problem in the long run.

Where's my follow up?  In sales specifically, without following up, I'm negelecting one of the easiest controllable factors in gaining an edge.  When I accomplish the task I move on, usually don't give it a second thought, but even when I do..........I rarely do anything about it.  I convinced myself a few years ago that "no news is good news," but I now know that's incorrect and was simply and easy way to justify my own lack of follow up.

When I delegate, my removal from the task magnifies.  I take for granted that the task is going to be accomplished to everyone's satisfaction.  My justification that "no news is good news" is now once removed, and I even convince myself that others are following up.

I am now on a mission to change this.  Not because I've recently been burned by not following up, or because my team is not satisfying every request............but because I can't continue to take things for granted.  I always talk about follow up, it's importance, and it's impact.  The fact that it's in our control and there's no reason to not use it as a key weapon in our arsenal.

I've caught myself not practicing what I preach, and that's reason enough to change.  So, I'll need to change my system of saving/deleting/red-flagging emails and voicemails........obviously my current system needs to be tweeked.  No more taking for granted, it does the same as assuming.  We'll see how this goes, I'll report back (or you can report for me).

**  Latest celebrity spotting was Mike Modano, sitting near me on a flight last week.